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Section 4/5 Seniors take Ted Brill Great 8 title

By Minnesota Hockey, 04/02/17, 4:00PM CDT

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Section 4/5 Seniors use fast start to defeat Section 7/8 18s

Team Orange (Section 4&5 Seniors) clinched the 36th annual CCM High Performance Ted Brill Great 8 Festival after a 6-2 win over Team Purple (Section 7&8 18s) Sunday afternoon at Doug Woog Arena in South St. Paul.

After a sluggish 4-4 tie against Team Gold (Section 7&8 Seniors) on Friday, Team Orange found its groove Saturday in a 4-0 shutout of Team Red (Section 1&3 Seniors) and a 5-2 victory against Team Royal (Section 2&6 Seniors) to earn its place in Sunday's championship game.

Head coach Matt Funk (St. Paul Academy), said its partially due to the team gelling and developing their game throughout the tournament and focusing on sound hockey.

"[Team Gold] had a couple bounces -- that was a good North team -- and they grinded it out with us," Funk said. "We found our game on Saturday morning and played that the rest of the time."

Despite an unbeaten record in pool play, Team Orange had its hands full with the HP 18s juggernaut, Team Purple, which went unblemished with a 3-0 records and outscored competition in its pool 19-8.

Carter Randklev (Moorhead) established early momentum for Team Purple early after slipping a shot five-hole past Bob Parenteau (White Bear Lake) five minutes, 13 seconds into the game. Team Orange wasn't fazed and put together four unanswered goals from Maple Grove duo Jarrett Cammarata and Justin Kelley (Maple Grove), and a pair from Matt Jennrich (Centennial). On his second goal, Jennrich shelved a pass over the shoulder of Team Purple netminder, Matt Fitzgerald (Bemidji), that Matt Dahlseide (St. Paul Academy) zipped across the slot for the score. Dahlseide and  Lincoln Erne (Blaine) both had two assists in the first half.

Funk attributed his team's success to its goaltending that kept the skaters steady throughout the weekend. Justin Evenson (Minnehaha Academy) embodied Funk's praise in the second half, stopping all 10 shots he faced for his second shutout of the tournament, thwarting any comeback Team Purple was conspiring. 

"A lot of times in these all-star events, guys sort of forget the basics and don't play a two-way game," Funk said. "But this team did a good job all weekend caring about the details and played good hockey on both ends."

Emmet Nath rifled a low slap shot past Lance Leonard (Moorhead), stopped 14 of the 15 shots he faced in the crease, with 7:23 left in the game to ice Team Orange's title win. Nath's goal was his sixth of the tournament as the leading goal scorer. The next closest player had three goals.

"We all met on Wednesday, had one practice, and by the end of the weekend they're talking about hanging out and becoming best friends," Funk said. "It's a testament to the game that in one weekend these guys were enemies beforehand and are all good friends and now have a memory of a lifetime." 

3rd place game:

Team Gold (Section 7&8 Seniors) - 6, Team Kelly (Section 2&6 18's) - 4

Team Gold mounted a four-goal comeback in the final half to defeat Team Kelly 6-4. 

Josh Maucieri (Northern Lakes) scored the game's opening goal, but four Team Kelly goals followed. Griffen Ness (Wayzata), Justin Daly (Delano) just minutes apart midway through the half. Joesph Molenaar (Minnetonka) slapped home a rebound and crashed into Cade McEwen (Hermantown) in the process with 2:39 left to play. Luke Mobley (St. Louis Park) capped the run by Team Kelly are finishing on a great tape-to-tape pass from fellow Oriole William Basill (St. Louis Park). Brady Tatro (Bemidji) dug Team Gold out of a hole after slipping a shot five-hole past Linden Olness (Breck). Olness denied 15 of 17 shots, while McEwen made 18 saves for Team Gold.

Tatro netted his second, both which were assisted by Matt Valure (Hermantown). Bryden Stoskopf (Roseau) backhanded a shot top shelf from point-blank range to tie the game.  Dylan Johnson (Cloquet-Esko-Carlton) netted the game-winner and Valure scored the insurance goal on an empty net. Kyle Haden (St. Michael-Albertville) played perfect between the pipes for Team Gold, stopping all 16 shots he faced.

5th place game:

Team Royal (Section 2&6 Seniors) - 6, Team Light Blue (Section 4&5 18's) - 0

Team Royal used a second half scoring outburst to roll to a 6-0 victory over Team Light Blue.

It took 24 minutes to break a scoreless tie as Team Royal's Erik Evans (Burnsville) capitalized on a second-chance rebound created by Nick Anderson (Orono). Reid Waszczenko (Wayzata) posted an 11-save shutout for his second of the festival. Jacob Toensing (South St. Paul) made 22 saves for Team Light Blue and finished the tournament with the most saves, stopping 96 of 104 shots (.923).

Michael Spethmann (St. Cloud Cathedral) kickstarted Team Royal by finding the net a minute and five seconds into the second half. Kevin Fellows (Prior Lake) bounced a shot off the skate of Team Light Blue goaltender, Bryce Crowley (Centennial), 43 seconds later.  Jake Van Halbeck (St. Cloud Cathedral) shelved a rebound and assists Crusaders teammate Spethmann for his second 30 seconds later. Carter Breitenfeldt (Breck) capped the with a late goal, courtesy of Peter Johnson (Fergus Falls). Nick Wienciek stopped all 12 shots he faced in Team Royal's net.

7th place Game: 

Team Red (Section 1&3 Seniors) - 4, Team White (Section 1&3 18's) - 1

Team Red's four-goal first half was all it needed to defeat its Section 1/3 counterpart, Team White, in a 4-1 victory in the opening game of the final session.

Thomas Klans (Lakeville North) found the net for with 11:50 left in the first half off a feed from William Reim (St. Thomas Academy) to put Team Red on the board. A three-goal flurry ensued in the final four minutes of the half as Seth Cushing (Red Wing), Jordan Strand (Park High School) and Colin Sieh (Hastings) all scored for the Seniors. Casey Peterson (Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato) had primary assists on Cushing and Strand's goals, while Strand had a first assist on a rush with Sieh. Ryan Bielenberg notched his second shutout of the festival, stopping seven shots in net for Team Red to finish with 59 saves on 61 shots and a tournament-best .967 save percentage on the weekend. 

Goaltenders Brooks Telecky (Hutchinson) and Joshua Kenney (Burnsville) kept both teams at bay for most of the second half. Telecky notched a 15-save shutout for Team White, while Kenney had his shutout bid foiled by  Grant Horsager with 1:09 remaining. Kenney denied 14 of 15 shots he faced.